EPA says mileage rules assumed gas prices that are too low
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency says the Transportation Department may be low-balling the economic benefits of increasing fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.
The EPA said that the Transportation Department would have been better off using higher estimates for future gasoline prices when it proposed increasing the average fuel economy of all vehicles to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015.
The proposed fuel economy increase was based in part on estimates that gas would range from $2.04 a gallon to $3.37 a gallon, averaging $2.42 a gallon in 2016.
Gas prices were already over $3 a gallon when Transportation Secretary Mary Peters unveiled the increase in fuel economy standards in April. The national average price for unleaded gasoline peaked in mid-July at $4.11 and was down to $3.68 on Tuesday, according to the AAA.
Congress last year required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — an agency within DOT — to set mileage standards at the “maximum feasible” level each year, reaching a minimum of 35 mpg by 2020, a 40 percent increase over current standards.
If the highway administration uses a higher estimate for gas prices in its analysis, it could make a more cost-effective case for raising the requirements beyond 31.6 mpg by 2015.
